


Fevered

by lilmissmaya



Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Pining, Sickfic, implied moominpappa and joxter, stomach flu, yes yet another sick fic from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:01:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22105987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilmissmaya/pseuds/lilmissmaya
Summary: it's been a while since Joxter wandered over to moominvalley to visit his old friend. its a good opportunity to lounge around and eat food while hanging out with his friend.but he's got this awful headache and he's not feeling all that well...
Comments: 5
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

The joxter found himself at odd ends and feeling rather terrible. Nothing he could put a finger on, just a general feeling of cruddiness. Strange, he tended to be rather healthy thanks to a strict lifestyle of loafing around and avoiding anything that might be considered stressful. 

Moominvalley wasn’t far away. He could hang out there, enjoy moominmamma’s very good food and pappa’s good company until this passed.   
Yes, this idea just tickled his whiskers and he felt better already.

Evening was falling as he reached the moominhouse. Pappa was smoking his pipe on the porch, enjoying the summer sunset as he rocked. 

“Joxter, old man!” he happily greeted him. “What are you doing here?”

“Visiting!” he said, more cheerfully than he felt. He had a thumping headache. “How are you doing, is snufkin around?”

“Same old, same old. Working on my memoirs. Maybe you can read them while you’re here. Anyway, snufkin’s out of the valley for a few days, walkabout. Poor moomin has been moping since he left.” he nodded to the bridge, where he mournfully waited for his friend’s return. “You look rather peaked, are you alright?”

“Nothing I can’t sleep off.” he hoped. 

His thoughts drifted off as moominpappa went on about the last time he had a cold. From the way he told it he had been near death and no one cared. It would be very nice, so very nice if he could lay his head on pappa’s lap and let him play with his hair. Silly, he just wanted some comfort. 

“-I say, joxter, you’re practically asleep on your feet. Do you want anything to eat before you go to bed?”

Normally he’d be all up for food, but he wanted to lay down, sleep off this headache. 

“No thank you.”

“You’re free to use our guest room.” he gave joxter a funny look. 

“Oh no, the night air is nice, I’ll just sleep in the hammock over there.” it was never any fun to sleep inside when he was invited to. 

It was so good to lay down. The bed would have been softer, but at this point he didn’t care. Laying down was laying down. He pulled his hat over his eyes and went to sleep. 

“Mr. joxter?” what, morning already? He felt terrible. He moved his hat to meet the soft eyes of moomintroll. “Breakfast is ready.”

His stomach roiled unhappily, promising a terrible end if he ate. 

“Thanks kiddo, but I think I’ll pass this time and sleep in.” he smiled at moomintroll, chucked his chin a little. He blushed prettily, and his heart lurched. He looked too much like his father back when they first met, and… he tucked his face back under his hat before he could say or do something stupid. 

He managed to get back into a doze despite the pounding ache in his head before pappa came storming up to him. Apparently turning down a snack was one thing, but an entire meal? He must be close to death. He snatched off the battered hat, stuck his paw on his forehead.

“You’re burning up!”

“I’ve been laying in the sun.” he muttered, blindly reaching for the hat. The sun was much too bright, moominpappa much too loud for his unhappy head. 

“Up, up, you’re coming inside.”

“Oh don’t fuss, you sound like the hemulien’s aunt-” he was forced upright and out of the hammock, he shut his eyes tightly to keep the world from spinning. Then he was on his knees, legs turned to rubber.

“Joxter!”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, just got up too fast…” he muttered, rubbing his face. His head was spinning, which was making his stomach very, very unhappy. “I need to lie down for a minute.”

“We need to get that fever down, that’s what you need.” he tugged joxter back up to his feet, and put his arm around his shoulders to support him. 

“Moomin-” he said after a few steps. “I need to stop-”

“It’s not that far. We’re almost to the stairs.”

“No, I-” he stopped, leaning over to dry heave into the rose bushes. There was very little in his stomach, thank the booble. He was in a cold sweat by the time he finished. Wordlessly, moominpappa set him down on the porch step, letting him sit with his head between his knees. Maybe he could sleep here on the porch. He’d sleep on the floor, if they would just let him not move for a while. 

“Come on joxter, let's get you to bed.”

“‘Mfine here.” he mumbled, but let himself be tugged to his feet again. The stairs inside were awful, he kept his eyes shut against the dizziness that threatened to knock him to his knees again. Moominpappa and his wife were talking, just noise he didn’t pay attention to, too focused on keeping upright. 

It was such a relief when they stopped and he was allowed to sink down to the ground. The tile was cold against his head and he sighed happily. He didn’t question why he was on tile and not in bed, not when he was finally laying down, and laying down on something so nice and cool. 

It took him a few moments to realize moominpappa was pulling off his clothes.

“Whatcha doing?” he asked, trying to tug away. 

“You’re going to have a cool soak, to help that fever go down.”

“Nooo-” he protested. He was where he wanted to be, and a bath was just another delay in trying to sleep this off. 

“It’ll make you feel better.” he got him stripped down, joxter too dizzy to struggle properly. He eventually gave up fighting, and got into the bath. The water was lukewarm, cold to his overheated skin. But at least he could lay his cheek on the porcelain of the bathtub, doze a little. 

He opened his eyes a little as water was poured over his head. He half expected moominmamma to be there, but it was pappa, grumping as he scooped up another cup of water to pour over him. His heart fluttered a little, that same silly feeling as when his son blushed earlier. Damn, he thought he’d gotten over that crush ages ago.

He’d unpack that later, he decided as he closed his eyes again. If he just laid here and let moomin do what he wanted, the quicker he could get into a bed. A lovely, soft bed with a lovely, soft pillow for his head. 

But moominpappa seemed intent on scrubbing him down too. 

“Moomin, stop…” he mumbled, trying not to speak loudly. Noises hurt his head, but he was being rough with the washcloth, as if he was trying to take off the top layer of skin. 

He stopped, cupping joxter’s damp cheek with a paw. It’d be so easy and nice to nuzzle that paw, give it a little kiss-

His brain must be good and fried if he was thinking of that now. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Terrible.” he closed his eyes again as moominpappa washed his face. The cold water felt good, not as good as that nice paw… 

“You feel cooler.”

“Mmm.” now came the worst part, trying to get him out of the bathtub. He felt a little steadier, but he still had to close his eyes to fight the dizziness. Somehow he was wrestled into pajamas, and finally, blessedly, put into a bed. Oh it was so soft, the sheets smelled like lavender. He sunk into the mattress with a groan of pleasure. 

Pappa’s paw was combing out his shaggy hair with his fingers, gently, something like affection. 

“Momma’s going to bring you up some tea later.”

“Kay.” he mumbled into the pillow. He’d agree to anything as long as he could stay here, in a soft bed with his head getting petted.   
But it couldn’t last forever, moominpappa pulling away, the affectionate touch stopping. He should say something, say….

He slipped off into sleep, somewhere dark and unpleasant.


	2. Chapter 2

Moominpappa was angry. A little at joxter, for showing up and falling ill, mostly at himself for not noticing sooner. Joxter never turned down food, he should have marched him inside right away. He was the smart one after all. He should have been smart enough to tell that joxter was coming down with something.   
Joxter’s fever was flaring high, he mumbled wordlessly in his sleep. He’d half wake up when shook, try to drink a little. But any more than a sip or two and it’d come right back up.

And what angered pappa most of all was that joxter wasn’t fighting against the fussing anymore. Maybe he was that comfortable in bed that he was willing to put up with the constant waking, constantly trying to get him to drink a little. Maybe he was exhausted by the fever. And what made pappa that much more angry and scared was that maybe joxter was losing the strength to fight against it. It had hit him so hard, so fast, and the joxter was never sick. He was infuriatingly healthy. 

Joxter moaned in his sleep, trying to curl up with his arms over his head, like he was trying to hide. 

“Shhh, joxter, wake up.”

“Moomin?” he mumbled, peering with a bright blue eye over his arm. “Where…”

“Shhh, you’re okay. Can you take a drink?”

“Kay.” he lifted his head to accept a sip of broth, followed a few minutes later by a spoonful of medicine. 

“How are you feeling?”

“I can’t tell if I’m dreaming or awake.” he mumbled, eyes unfocused and glassy. He reached over, grabbing pappa’s paw. “You really here?”

“I’m really here, don’t worry.” he squeezed his friend’s paw, feeling how hot and dry his skin was. “Another sip? You need to get water in you if you’re going to get better.”

Joxter made a soft noise, sipped and made a face. But it stayed down. 

“Come to bed moomin.” he muttered, starting to sink down to wherever the fever took him. “Don’t want you sick too…”

“Shhh…” he patted his hair, trying to soothe him into better dreams. He whimpered a little, but his breathing went slow and even. 

They repeated this over and over. Wake him up, force broth, tea, medicine into him. Comfort him when the fever dreams became too frightening. Eventually he dozed off, snout tucked up against joxter’s shoulder. 

Mamma shook his shoulder gently. “Pappa, you need to go to bed.”

“Mmm, no, I’m fine.” he protested sleepily. 

“Moomin can sit with him for a while.” she tugged him away, “come on pappa.”

Joxter struggled to wake up, escaping from a dream where the trees were tearing at him, dragging him down- into a softly lit room. Everything was blurry, and he wasn’t sure he was awake. If he was asleep, this seemed like a better dream. 

A paw smoothed back his hair, a soft murmuring like water. He tried to focus on the source, a soft white figure.

Moominpappa, his brain dragged up, soft, beautiful moomin. This had to be a dream, he looked so young, so… but if it was a dream, he could kiss that paw, nuzzle it. He blushed so prettily. 

“We should-” he had to drag the words out by their tails, “go on a picnic.”

“Shhh…” moomin tried to shush him, offering him a drink of water. He swallowed it gratefully, but he wasn’t done.

“I’ll cook something… there’s this waterfall… good to nap at…” it was getting harder and harder to talk, but he wanted to ask before he forgot. He’d fall and… he was given another sip of something sweet.

“Shhh, go to sleep mr. joxter.”

“No, I’m…” he was drifting away, he struggled, he wanted to stay here with sweet moomin, his dreamer. But he was losing, dropping back into his feverish dreams. 

Moomin sat and pondered. Joxter wasn’t doing well and… snufkin should be here. Surely joxter would feel better with his son here. Snufkin would want to see him. 

“Momma, I’m gonna go find snufkin!” he declared, backpack in paw. She nodded thoughtfully as she mixed up something in a bowl.

“It might be for the best, please hurry.” but she thought snufkin should be here for other reasons. But there was no need to worry moomin, not yet. If she could just get his fever down….

The hard part was, he wasn’t sure what direction snufkin went off in. he wandered to wander, so… he turned around in a circle, trying to decide where to try first. His eye was caught by a path, where the branches from the trees made a tunnel, cool and dim. There. That looked like a good wandering direction, sheltered from the summer sun. 

He dashed down the path. He had to hurry, the sooner he brought snufkin back, the sooner joxter would be better. 

Snufkin, in the meanwhile, was pondering going back to the moominhouse a little early. He thought he’d enjoy the wander, but he spent most of the time wondering what moomin would think about this or that. It was good to have the space, but he missed the company. Was that odd?

He could almost hear moomin’s-

Wait, that was moomin! 

He jerked up from his dozing spot as moomin pushed through the brush.

“Oh thank the booble I found you!”

“Moomin?” his friend looked frazzled, grass-stained and full of leaves and burrs. This wasn’t good, no matter how much he might miss snufkin, he never chased after- he jumped to his feet, feeling cold. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s joxter, it’s your pappa. He’s very sick and-” things tilted and he had to catch himself on a tree. 

“My pappa? What is he- why is he…” words failed, and he was very grateful for moomin’s arm around him. “Where is he?”

“At our house, my parents are taking care of him.”

Luckily he traveled light, and everything was still in his pack. He grabbed it and ran ahead of his friend. Moomin could be a little, no, if moomin felt he had to come find him, it was serious. 

Moomin caught his paw as he hurried and gave it a squeeze. And that made him feel a little better. If he had moomin by his side, he’d be okay. 

Moominpappa looked up as snufkin clattered up the stairs and burst into the guestroom, sweating and out of breath, He’d run the last half mile. Sheer panic and worry had fueled the dash.

“Joxter?!” pappa put his arms around him, he looked like he was about to drop there on the floor. “Is he-”

“He’s asleep,” pappa reassured. Snufkin’s face crumpled, and he burst into tears. 

“Oh pappa….”

“Shh, sit down my boy. You can sit with him.” he guided him to the chair he vacated, rubbing his shoulders. “I’ll get you some coffee, you’ll feel better.”

“Thank you moominpappa.” he sniffled, scrubbing at his damp face with the back of his hand. Joxter mumbled in his sleep. His fever was finally starting to break, sweat beading up on his pale face. Snufkin wiped his father’s face with a damp cloth, biting his own lip. Joxter’s face looked thinner, his lips chapped and dry. He just… he rubbed his face and helped his father become more comfortable. 

Then he had to wait.


	3. Chapter 3

He couldn’t find the children. 

He was trapped in another feverish dream, searching the dense underbrush for the little ones, where were they? He had to find… 

Someone was patting his face, trying to get his attention. His head hurt so bad, he could hardly see. 

“I can’t find the babies-” he tried to tell them. “Gotta find them…”

“Shhh….” moominmamma soothed. “The babies are fine, they are asleep in their beds.” she glanced over at the boys, asleep in a pile in the corner of the guest room. Snufkin had gone to sleep only if he could stay close by. 

“I can’t find the babies.” he insisted into her apron. 

“They’re fine, joxter. Shhh…” she stroked his damp hair, trying to calm him. The fever was starting to break, he was drenched in sweat.

“My head hurts.”

“I know, sweety.” she got out some lavender water and a cloth, washing down his face and chest. His breathing became slower, easier as the soft scent filled the room. She helped him change into a dry pair of pajamas, washing off the sweat as they went. 

“Where are the babies?” he mumbled, half asleep. She placed a cold cloth over his eyes and he made a pleased noise. 

“In their beds, asleep.”

“Oh good.” he drifted back into sleep, quieter now. It was a better dream, sitting in the bracken and holding the little ones as they slept. 

Waking up was different this time. Noises were softer, the light not as harsh. His head still hurt, but it was down to a single point behind his eye. And he was thirsty, he could drink a pond’s worth of water if he could find it. 

Someone was holding his paw. Huh. 

He looked over, finding a shaggy mop of mymble-red hair next to him. 

“Snufkin?” he couldn’t put much volume behind it. The boy stirred, blinking awake.

“You’re awake!” he patted his face, checking for the fever. “It finally broke!”

“You’ve been crying.” his son’s eyes were red and puffy, he rubbed the heel of his palm into one.

“A little.” he admitted. “You were…”

“Yeah.” he tried to sit up and failed, still feeling a little dizzy when he moved. Snufkin helped him, propping him up on pillows so he was somewhat upright. “I feel like I got hit by a truck.”

“And how would you know that, old man?” he sniffled, looking like he was going to cry again.

“Oh come here. Shh…” he pulled snufkin into a hug, tucking his head under his chin. “Shh, I’ll be okay.”

They stayed like that for long moments, joxter comforting his son.

“You feel thin, pappa. Are you hungry?”

He shook his head. “Thirsty.”

“I’ll get you juice and soup, okay?” he sniffed and rubbed his nose against his sleeve. 

“Thanks kiddo.” he wasn’t sure he’d be awake by then, his head felt like a bobble on a stick already. Still… it was good to see snufkin. 

He blinked awake at the shifting of the mattress. 

“Snufkin?” he asked again, still half asleep. 

“Just me.” moominpappa pressed the back of his paw against joxter’s forehead, He sighed in relief. “Much better.” 

“What happened? I don’t remember much.”

You came over, complained of a headache and turned down a meal.” he cupped joxter’s cheek.

“Must have been close to death then.”

“That’s what I thought. Good thing too, you then dropped like a rock.”

“Oh.” he should push the paw away, because…. Because…. He felt dizzy and his head pounded again. 

“Pappa?” snufkin pushed the door open, carrying a tray with moomin close behind. Moominpappa pulled away, the spot where his paw had been suddenly so cold.

“Snufkin, my boy! I see moominmamma supplied you well, you got something for yourself to eat?”

“Yes pappa.” he set the tray on the nightstand, moomin putting a paw on the small of his back. A small gesture, but loving. Joxter’s chest twinged, and he put that to being sick. 

“Good, good. I’ll be downstairs.” he left in a fluster, the kids looking a little confused. But snufkin shrugged it off, settling down to help joxter eat. 

“So, you and moomintroll?” his son’s face turned red. 

“No, it’s…”

“Tell him.” he said softly. 

“He wouldn’t…”

“He does.” he saw the mooneyes they had made at each other. “He loves you.”

“I love him so much…” he turned red up to his ears. “I’ll tell him.”

“Good.” he felt strangely relieved. 

His son helped him drink some broth, just a small mugfull. It exhausted him, that little bit of conversation and drinking. But snufkin settled beside him, let him rest his head on his shoulder. He dozed, listening to the murmur of snufkin and moomin’s voices. If he’d done one right thing…

The next few days were spent trying to eat, trying to walk around, and trying to avoid moominpappa. Getting stronger was taking a frustratingly long time, the extended fever having sapped all his body’s resources. He had to get better quickly, so he could go before these feelings he was getting could make him do or say something stupid. 

It was a struggle, but he managed to get himself out to the front porch. Fresh air, sunshine. A different place to doze at least. 

Maybe he would go to the mymble’s house and hang out there for a while. A tumble in bed would get his feelings for moominpappa out of his system. But first he needed to get enough strength to walk across a room without needing a rest. 

He needed… 

He needed…

“Joxter?” he jerked out of his doze, blinking at moominpappa. 

Joxter’s color was still terrible, pappa thought. Grey, his eyes dull. Automatically he touched his snout to his friend’s forehead. Cool, dry. No fever. Just slow to recover and no wonder, he’d barely eaten. 

“Momma has some cake, won’t you have a peice?” he’d never known him to turn down sweets, but joxter shook his head no. 

“Maybe later.” pappa settled next to him, and found joxter leaning against his warmth. He felt thinner than before. 

“You should eat something, you won’t get better if you don’t.”

“I’m just not hungry.” Pappa was warm and comfortable to curl up against and he forgot all about… whatever he had been thinking about. 

“What about rice pudding, would you eat some of that?” 

“Sure.” he mumbled, half asleep. Pappa’s wonderful warmth pulled away and joxter found himself alone on the porch. 

He returned with a bowl and a spoon, the rice pudding he had mentioned. And joxter sighed to himself. Eating was so tiring. 

“Open.” he insisted, intent on feeding joxter. He could protest but… might as well eat a little and make him happy. 

The pudding was sweet, flavored with rose and pistachios, easy to get down. 

“Why are you doing this?” he asked half way through. 

“Because if you don’t eat, then you’ll never get better, then you’ll never leave my house.” he grumbled, feeding him another bite. The tone didn’t match his eyes.

“We… never did talk about things, about us.”

“There wasn’t an us, that’s why.”

“I guess so.”

He scraped the bottom of the bowl, feeding him one last bite. Joxter felt overstuffed, a little sick. But it wasn’t from the food, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. 

“Where will you go next?” pappa asked, not looking at him.

“Not far. Maybe the mymble’s house for a bit with the boy.”

“Yes, you should hurry up and go.” and that same old contrariness rose up. He had to smile. 

“Well maybe I’ll stay for longer.”

“As you like.” and pappa smiled as he went back into the house, leaving joxter to pull his hat over his face and sleep off his meal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whelp, thank you for reading this short little fic! I have three (3!) more I'm poking at so... yeah. we will see what happens! if you want more joxter/pappa romance, let me know and I will see what I can come up with. maybe. why is January always so busy?

**Author's Note:**

> this took forever to write and I'm just biting the bullet and posting it without much revision or editing. pappa and joxter, I wish there were more cannon adventures with them! but alas...


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